Do not open if squeamish

This happened the Friday before last, trying to trim .05mm from a piece of timber on a table saw with the safety guard removed. I was trying to take it down marginally. I had run through twice and just needed a hair more, so I put a piece of tape on the side and pushed it through. I had a push stick in my right hand, but not my left. Don't ask why but I thought the piece kicked up. I reached out and down and thought I was clear of the blade, I thought wrong. I ended up ruining the hand surgeons Friday night as he ended up stitching me up at 10pm on a Friday night.

Attachment 445329 Attachment 445330
Attachment 445331 Attachment 445332
Stitches come out Tomorrow (Wednesday) and then 6weeks of intense therapy

Attachment 445333

Atleast i I can't be accused of sitting around with my thumb up my a-se. Hahaha

and please pile on the accolades of stupidity, I deserve every one of them.

I'm definitely not the first, nor will I be the last but please, take care and use a gripper, even the full priced one is cheap in comparison to the possible loss of a body part.

Fumbler.

A like doesn’t quite seem appropriate for a post like this but these posts certainly serve as a warning for us all. Best of luck with a speedy and hopefully full recovery.

Certainly a reminder to us all. Could be used as an advert for a certain saw brand.
Speedy recovery.

Stupid? No. I wouldn't say that. As you can now attest, it only takes a moments inattention to screw up in a big way.

Stupid is doing it a second time.

Regrettable? Most certainly!

It looks like you may've escaped any serious nerve damage? Here's to wishing you a full and speedy recovery.

:fingerscrossed:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

Stupid is doing it a second time.

Regrettable? Most certainly!

It looks like you may've escaped any serious nerve damage? Here's to wishing you a full and speedy recovery.

:fingerscrossed:

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thanks Skew, I got the nerves but maybe not all the way as it tingles like hell. I got the tendon about 80-90% through, 1 more mm and he said he'd have to open my arm up to retrieve it to re-attach. So in essence I was a very lucky man. And now a very much wiser one.

Not good Fumbler, I hope that you recover well. It looks like you are very lucky to still have the thumb. It can happen to anyone, rest up and get back on the horse in due time.
Cheers Cal

Thanks for posting and explaining what happened.
Hope it heals quickly meanwhile organise a good supply of push sticks that you can keep handy.

Be happy you still have a whole thumb.

I'm really sorry to read this Fumbler. I wish you a speedy recovery. Make sure you've got a buddy that you can offload on from time to time.

All the best,
Lance

Never good to hear of an injury to a fellow wood worker. I wish you a speedy recovery.

Thank you for sharing your experience to refresh the memory of others that table saws and other cutting machinery, including metal, have "no go zones" for human appendages.

Folks please NEVER do this!!!

In case you have't followed the chainsaw chaps thread , that's me in that photo and if all you see is the photo then I agree - definitely don't do it.

However, before you all get over excited that is not an angle grinder driving that wheel but a variable speed drive bench grinder running at slow speed. Unlike standard toothed blades running through wood, at slow wheel speed the bench grinder with the thin kerf wheel cuts 3mm thick mild steel quite slowly ie about 1/2 to 1 mm per second. It's absolutely no use pushing any harder as it simply won't cut any faster and just bogs the wheel down so much so that it stops cutting, so the work piece pressures used are light.

Just to put things into perspective I cut a couple of chicken necks with it at the slow speed - would anyone care to speculate how quickly it cut through them?

I am very familiar wth how quickly toothed saws cut through meat and bone as I use my WW BS twice a week to cut up the dogs bones and every time I do it I imagine my fingers going through these blades. For comparison the WW bandsaw cuts the chicken necks in half in a fraction of a second. ie as fast as I can push it past the blade.

BTW I don't recommend any one does any of this sort of thing including cut tests on chicken necks or bones or uses any machinery if they are not comfortable with doing it. For those that are interested I use a 6 tpi blade on the BS to cut the bones.

Interesting that when I posted the same photo in the metal work forum no one mentioned anything. Probably because metal workers are quite used to hold workpieces up against grinders, linishers and wire wheels. The main reason for showing the original photo was to show the significant spark capture possible for this sort of slow speed cutting using a DC connected to a metal dust catching chamber.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BobL

I am very familiar wth how quickly toothed saws cut through meat and bone as I use my WW BS twice a week to cut up the dogs bones and every time I do it I imagine my fingers going through these blades.

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Same here whenever I cut large dog bones in half - it is a gentle reminder to watch and keep fingers well away from the blade.

Also keep the guides as low as possible to allow the bones to just pass through.

Photo or video is not what it seems?

Back in 2010 I was doing a lot of chainsawing and my chains got really gummed up so I was looked around for an easy way of cleaning them and came up with a chain cleaning gizmo that uses a portable drill to drive a chain around its bar and made a video of it working.

If you are not interested in details, skip through to the 1 minute mark where it's running and you can see me touch the running chain with my bare hands.
:oo:
Not gingerly like, but placing all my fingers on it.

https://youtu.be/IauN8GMUCy0

The chain is of course running backwards, plus the slow speed of the drill (~1500 rpm) is what allows me to do this safely.

I since discovered diesel. Now when I finish a cut and before I refuel and re-oil I liberally spray the gum on the chain with diesel and most of the baked on gum falls off at the start of the next cut.

BTW if you decide to try this you absolutely have to have the the chain running slowly and backwards!

Failure to do this will cause this.
Attachment 445347

This one is staged - that some Marri gum on my hands. I got tired of my BIL repeated sending me pics of the staples on his back from his various back operations that I sent him this.

That should have solved the BIL problem.:2tsup:

Be sure to treat yourself well while that heals. What a very lucky man you are. A few more mm, or the wrong reflex action and.... eeeeee.

Can we have updates on your recovery?

I did something similar, not to the thumb but to a finger.
The only good thing about it is, I can now count to 11 on my finger nails.:doh:
Wishing you a speedy recovery, and no permanent damage.
Kryn

Hope you have a quick and full recovery after your rehab.

Ross

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fumbler

This happened the Friday before last, trying to trim .05mm from a piece of timber on a table saw with the safety guard removed. I was trying to take it down marginally. I had run through twice and just needed a hair more, so I put a piece of tape on the side and pushed it through. I had a push stick in my right hand, but not my left. Don't ask why but I thought the piece kicked up. I reached out and down and thought I was clear of the blade, I thought wrong. I ended up ruining the hand surgeons Friday night as he ended up stitching me up at 10pm on a Friday night.

Attachment 445329 Attachment 445330
Attachment 445331 Attachment 445332
Stitches come out Tomorrow (Wednesday) and then 6weeks of intense therapy

Attachment 445333

Atleast i I can't be accused of sitting around with my thumb up my a-se. Hahaha

and please pile on the accolades of stupidity, I deserve every one of them.

I'm definitely not the first, nor will I be the last but please, take care and use a gripper, even the full priced one is cheap in comparison to the possible loss of a body part.

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hi Fumbler

I don't so much feel your pain but understand what happened.

For others reading this thread, shooting boards (used with a hand plane) were invented so you don't need to go near a table saw to remove the last 1 mm or less.

Hi Fumbler
I know how you feel - recently I wanted cut some wedges so I made a taper jig .. the pieces were small, my thumb got very close .. then too close, to the blade of the TS. I managed to touch TWO teeth of the blade - which left 2 trenches in my thumb which bled for almost 2 days. Not quite s big as your slash so no stitches. I can now feel the hard scar tissue under the skin.

So best wishes for a speedy recovery and full use of your thumb

Ken

Thanks for the reminder and explanation of what happened, Fumbler. It's a reminder to us all of how quickly things can go wrong.
Can I ask, were you tired? It struck me that it's the sort of mistake that an experienced woodworker would usually only make when tired - it's the sort of thing I can see myself doing last thing on Friday when "'I just want to get this done before the weekend."

Tiredness is a really good thing to remind us about AlexS. As I have sarcoidosis I can get tired quickly on some days and need a nap or rest during the middle of the day. At times one likes to just push on so I have to remind myself to take breaks when I feel like this.

A friend of the family had been a cabinet maker all his life, still had all limbs and digits and a relatively illness/injury free life. It was just a few days before his retirement and was tidying up after a long busy day and one of the things he usually did at the end of every day was scout the workshop for offcuts and throw them in a firewood bin. If the bits were too long he would cut them up on their big table saw. He fired up their big table saw, cut a couple of the pieces and turned off the saw. Several of the pieces remained next to the still moving blade and he tried to flick these pieces away from the blade but he underestimated how close they were to the blade and took 3 fingers off and spent the first 3 months of his retirement having various surgeries and treatments.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by woodPixel

Be sure to treat yourself well while that heals. What a very lucky man you are. A few more mm, or the wrong reflex action and.... eeeeee.

Can we have updates on your recovery?

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Thanks WP, it's slow and painful. 6wks in a cast they say. And yes it still hurts.

but still have managed to finish this chopping board

490x365x50, as only need 1 hand to use orbital sander.

Attachment 445504

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AlexS

Thanks for the reminder and explanation of what happened, Fumbler. It's a reminder to us all of how quickly things can go wrong.
Can I ask, were you tired? It struck me that it's the sort of mistake that an experienced woodworker would usually only make when tired - it's the sort of thing I can see myself doing last thing on Friday when "'I just want to get this done before the weekend."

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I guess, it was a combination of tiredness and rushing, I had (in between the 2nd and the disaster run) received a phone call to ask if I could go and get my son from after school care as he was sick. I work nights and had been asleep from 9:30am til 3:00pm, and thought I could just do this small job. Not so small now.

i have since got back into the work shop and trying to feel active again, I have used the same saw, but with double push pads. I was scared to turn it in for a week, thinking just pushing the button and I'd get hurt. I know it's stupid and my fault, but it has given me an extremely high sense of awareness now. I guess thinking about it now, I have been lucky never to have done this before.

i won't let it beat me, I will just have a ton of custard with my humble pie and slow right down, as there's always tomorrow, and if not, the next day.

thank you

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fumbler

Thanks WP, it's slow and painful. 6wks in a cast they say. And yes it still hurts.

but still have managed to finish this chopping board

490x365x50, as only need 1 hand to use orbital sander.

Attachment 445504

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You can't keep a good man down for long. :2tsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fumbler

but still have managed to finish this chopping board...

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How ironic. First project finished... a CHOPPING board :D:D:D:doh::doh:

Hope you make a speedy recovery.

Thanks for the post - a mindful warning of the dangers in our sheds

Regards

Keith

The only time I remove the guard is to change the blade. The loss of a thumb is a very debilitating injury.